WTF? (Where’s The Fun?) - March 2014

Overseas Fan

2/16

Who: Colin Humphries

What: '72 Chevrolet Camaro and '73 Ford Mustang Mach 1

Where: London, England

Why: How cool is it to see this pair of expats in England. Colin says he's owned the '72 Camaro for 15 years. It has an 11.0:1 383 with a solid roller cam and a Victor Jr. intake, a TH350 transmission, and an Eaton Posi out back. He's gone low 12s at the dragstrip and thinks he can break into the 11s soon. He says the exhaust note is awesome and sets off car alarms when he drives by. The Mustang is a recent purchase and was just repainted. It's 351C is mostly stock, so it idles politely in traffic. He says most people there love the cars and constantly stop him for pictures and to ask about them. Parts aren't too bad to come by either. "The U.S. car scene is huge here and growing in popularity," he says. Maybe we need to book a flight to check it out. The Z28 in the second picture is his wife's car. They also own a Chrysler 300C—it's clear they prefer V8s to the tiny four-cylinder diesels powering most of the commuter vehicles clogging up the roads over there.

3/16

Parts Collaboration

4/16

Who: Snap Lemon

What: '69 Ford N500 Commercial Chassis

Where: Riceville, Tennessee

Why: Snap took the time to type a letter and mail it to us. He was kind enough to include a flash drive of pictures of this contraption he built from swap-meet and eBay parts. The chassis originally served duty as a fire truck in Stuckey, Illinois, and powered by a 330-inch Ford engine and a four-speed transmission. Buying online, he mixed-and-matched parts from all the domestic manufacturers to come up with this tall parts-hauler. The drivetrain is all GM with a TBI 454/4L80E. The donor Chevy's driveshaft even fit. The bed is from a Dodge, and the interior is a patchwork of OE and aftermarket parts, as well. Snap wants to thank Tom King and John Hudson for helping with the body and paintwork.

5/16

Racy Falcon

6/16

Who: Mike Thomas

What: '64 Ford Falcon

Where: Camarillo, California

Why: This is one bad-ass Falcon. Mike says he built the small-block with an original Hilborn mechanical fuel-injection system from 1964. He rows the gears in a Toploader trans, and there are 4.30:1 gears in the 9-inch out back. Inside, you'll find a six-point rollbar from Chris Alston's Chassisworks, and cool Dodge A100 seats. His crew chief is his 5-year-old daughter, Olivia, who got special pink lettering on the trunk.

7/16

Slightly Tubbed

8/16

Who: Joe Kovarik

What: '51 Kaiser Henry J.

Where: Glen Ellyn, Illinois

Why: Joe writes that he finished the restoration of his Henry J. in 2000. It's an original body with a 426 Hemi, dual quads, and a narrowed 9-inch inside "slightly tubbed" rear wheelwells. Making around 500 hp, we bet this thing is a blast to drive.

Social Media Submission

9/16

Who: Graeme Brown

What: '55 Chevy

Where: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Why: Graeme messaged us a couple pictures of his '55 on our Facebook page. He built the car at home, except for the bodywork and paint. Under the hood is an extremely potent 565ci Dart big-block Chevy with JE pistons, Oliver rods, a Bullet solid roller cam, Crower shaft-mount rocker arms, and Dart Pro 1 cylinder heads. To that, he's attached a Tremec T-56 Magnum six-speed, ending with a Currie 9-inch with a four-link suspension. He says 10s at the track should be an easy feat. Fast and good-looking—nice work, Graeme!

10/16

Resurrected

11/16

Who: Chris Thompson

What: '69 Dodge Super Bee

Where: Santa Ana, California

Why: Chris sent pictures of his car on the eighth-mile track at Irwindale. He says he bought the car from its second owner, and it had been sitting in a garage for more than 30 years. The original 440 Six Pak grenaded decades ago and was replaced with a low-compression 413. The Six Pak intake is still on it, though.

Letters

Sarcasm!

Thank you for my hat from China. It fits a grown man's head well. LOL!

—Mark Peters, Jr., via Facebook

Love Letter & Engine Request

What a killer mag! I've been subscribing for years, and yours is the only mag I have found that has decent tech articles. The other articles are pretty good, too, especially Krass and Bernie. Keep it up, people; you do a great job! I know it's a big ask, but would you please do more articles on Ford Windsor and Cleveland engines?

—Owen Mauseth, via Facebook

Four Cylinder Pimpin'

I just read through the Nov. '13 issue and have to agree with reader Bob Eudy. Although I'm a sucker for big engine power, I also like the oddball powerplants. I'm currently putting a 6.0L LQ4 in a Rambler and a 4.0L Jeep in a VW Bug, but my favorite current project is my 2.3L turbo Ford going in an '84 notchback Mustang. I've always liked these little engines, and I would love to see these and others like them in the mag. I know most readers shake their heads at anything less than eight-cylinders, but I bet there are plenty who would enjoy reading about cranking power out of a carbureted 2.0L Pinto, or an Iron Duke.

Pimpin ain't easy.

—Josh Moe, New Oxford, Pennsylvania

Burnout!!

"This is my '62 Pontiac Catalina with a newly rebuilt 426ci Pontiac out in south Jersey. I've had this car since I was 15, now I'm 23. I've been through three engines and four transmissions. The car keeps breaking, and I just keep fixing it."

12/16

—Ray Schwedhelm, via email

"A photo of my son, Craig, doing burnouts in his ‘Phantom' Impala SS wagon. It was created by transplanting the engine, transmission, interior, instruments, and electronics from a totaled '96 Impala SS into a Caprice wagon."

13/16

—Darol Christensen, via email

Blown-Up Parts of the Month

"This was my 350 Chevy. It came apart as I crossed the finish line at the dragstrip. Fastest pass ever! LOL"

14/16

—bieganskip, via email

"I have an '89 Silverado with an LS swap and was passing a tractor with a 600-pound welding machine in the back. When the transmission downshifted to First, it felt kinda funny. Got home, and it was chunky soup for dinner!"

15/16

—Josh Hardison, Clemmons, North Carolina

"This is what's left of a 340 after it grenaded on a drive in the country. It was in my '70 Challenger T/A."

16/16

—Jim Bradley, via email

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